Editorial: Practice makes champions of Chico youths

Ever hear of the 10,000-hour rule? It's a theory shared by Malcolm Gladwell in his 2008 bestseller "Outliers" that you don't become an expert in something until you've put in 10,000 hours of practice.

Even if the math seems a little outlandish — that's doing something eight hours a day, five days a week for nearly five years, which isn't "practice" at all but a full-time job — the point is still made. You don't become truly great at anything, whether it's playing the cello or throwing a football, until you put in years and years of time and effort. Athletes especially have taken the maxim of "practice, practice, practice" to heart.

Gentry Stein and Zac Rubino, young Chico yo-yo wizards, may not have reached that 10,000-hour threshold yet, but they've put in hundreds if not thousands of hours, mostly in an alley behind a yo-yo museum in Chico, to become amazingly skilled at what they do.

Stein, 18, took first place in the top division Saturday in Prague at the World Yo-Yo Contest. That led to a headline that said "Chico resident wins World Yo-Yo Contest" in Tuesday's Enterprise-Record, but it went far beyond that. Time.com wrote, "Watch the World's Best Yo-Yo-er Show Off His Mad Skills." Sports Illustrated gave him prominent mention. So did Bleacher Report, MTV and ABC.

People Magazine gushed "You Have to See This Kid's Award-Winning Yo-Yo Routine" and, well, that's accurate. It has to be seen to be believed. Check it out on the Internet. Just go to Google and type in the word "Gentry." Gentry Stein is your first choice. He's that popular right now.

But many lucky Chico people don't have to check out the amazing routine, because they know it well. They watched Stein grow up here, sharpening his skills every Saturday with a group of yo-yoers that meets behind the downtown store Bird in Hand, which houses the National Yo-Yo Museum and also sponsors the National Yo-Yo Contest each year in Chico.

Another member of that group is Rubino, 18, who placed fifth in the World Yo-Yo Contest in the Czech Republic in the "off-string" division, meaning the yo-yo isn't attached to a string.

To see their routines is a bit intimidating. They aren't just winging it with tricks for three minutes. It's all choreographed and practiced until it's perfect. Obviously, that practice paid off.

We'd bet it will inspire other young Chico residents to follow in their footsteps. Stein and Rubino show the art of what is possible with hard work.

It's a wonderful thing for the community, too. Chico is known for its beer, its university, its wild city park — and now its yo-yo artists. That's not a bad legacy.